BREAKING NEWS!1 february 2018
i will spare you the details, but after a year of hopelessly suffering my quickly degenerating web host i have decided to discontinue our collaboration - and spread the word: freewebs sucks!

which means that with immediate effectcaptain beefheart electricitywill be flashing on at the new addressbeefheart.xyz
see you there, you're welcome...

it's not a desert. somebody told you that
i was living in a desert, but now i am by the ocean. i'm happier here.

do you live close to the hot streams in
the ocean?

no, it's cold enough to make you retrieve
your toes! the surfers, god bless them, they get eaten up by white sharks.
yet they still go!

not the ones that have been eaten!

wel, he, he, he, they may be soul-surfin'
out there, hu, hu, hu. they haven't been heard of...

have you seen any surfers being eaten?

no, i have missed that moment; which pleases
me - but why do they do that? i mean, they wear suits that look just like,
on a surfboard from under the water, look just like a seal - so it's no
wonder: the natural prey of the white shark is the seal... even a few walruses
thrown in.

why is it that you like isolated places?
is it the isolation itself, or is it because you want to get away from
people?

i find isolation better because of the fact
that i can paint.

you could't paint if you were near people?

i'd rather not... he, he, he... new york,
for instance, it's so lóud. have you been there?

yes.

isn't it lóud?

yes, very. you used to play some music
that was pretty loud yourself.

yeah, but as long as i composed it, i created
a space that was pretty silent. rather selfish... he, he, he... i did music
exactly the way i wanted it.

today you seem to have even bigger success
as a painter than you had as a musician - does that surprise you?

mmm... no, not really, because i had planned
on doing that. i had been doing some paintings on album covers, so i thought
that it would end up that way.

can you tell me how you got into the art
world, how you got in contact with these big galleries, and who's taking
care of your business?

michael werner is, fortunately, who i got
in contact with. he came here with a (german - t.t.) painter named
a.r. penck: he is a wonderful man, he is a great painter.

and he also wrote a text for one of your
catalogues?

yes, he is a great writer too, hu, hu, hu,
he is a great painter, a good writer, and he danced here new year's eve
two years ago. he danced all night, hehehe, he can even dance...!

he is just good at everything...

he seems to be. he is a good drummer too.

so how about you two making some music
together - do you want to do that?

mmm... not really, i want to paint... he,
he, he... i made music for so long that it's time for me to paint.

i remember seven or eight years ago i
saw an interview with you right after your last album 'ice cream for crow',
and you seemed very optimistic about music, and you were telling that you
had so many new songs, and that you wanted to keep on doing music - but,
then, what happened?

well, i decided to paint. it was my choice,
and i took it. do you like music?

yeah, i like music a lot, i like your
music...

thank you, i'm flattered...

your music has meant a lot to me.

that's good. what about 'trout mask replica'?...

i love that one...

that's a good one.

that's one of your favourites, isn't it?

i think i like 'lick my decals off, baby'
actually the most.

yeah, that's great, too...

you've heard it?

of course - i've got all your records.

you dó! god have mercy - you sound
like you know all about it!

(...)

what that music is going at, is complete
absence.

that's the way you see it?

that's the way i did it. you can't think
about that music. that music is moving so fast that if you think about
it, it's like watching a train go by and counting the cars. it's better
to hear it without the mind so active, because the mind is active naturally,
and if you don't try to think about it, you get a lot more fish, hu, hu,
hu...

yeah... is that what you are singing about
on the 'shiny beast' album: 'be the monster tonight..., is that about not
thinking too much?

yeah, i think a lot of people have had too
much to think, and they should send their mother home - it's from 'flash
gordon's ape' (from 'lick my decals off, baby' - teejo), that's
a funny song! they are all hilarious. what about [sadam] hussein...,
how could he do that: spill all that oil? is worse than the one they had
in alaska. what a dis-gus-ting individual... how near are you to all that?

well, fortunately i'm quite far away...
i'm at the other end of --

me too. i'm happy with that. but it sure
makes me feel bad to see all these animals, that had nothing to do with
that...: mán... he, he, he...

it is, like, teevee is your main communication
with the world?

hú, hú, hú, you got
it! that's true. i also listen to the radio.

when you are painting, are you then thinking
about an audience, are you thinking about communication?

when i'm doing a bad painting, i've been
thinking too much. then i paint over it and get a clear spot, then i paint
again.

do you think that paintings do really
affect peoples lives, or do you think that most people just consider them
some kind of unique expressions of a savage soul?

he, he, he... he, he , he...

do you think so...?

he, he, he... you know, i don't have any
idea, he, he, he... what about the fact that some people think they have
an idea?

i think that most people would like to
think that they've got an idea...

well, i'm sure that my mind thinks that i
have an idea, but sometimes i fool it, and get my best stuff!

do you like hats?

i lóve hats.

how come?

hu, hu, hu... that's a good question... probably
some absurd idea of theatrics. i like the shape of a fedora. if you have
ever seen a photo of me i was probably wearing a fedora. they are good.
they are good for hearing too. i mean, i can hear through the hat, i can
hear every instrument. that helps.

don't you miss doing music?

hmmm... i think i did about what i wanted
to do.

is that a nice feeling?

yeah. i really didn't do music for money,
so i surely didn't get disappointed. there isn't that much money for what
yóu like. i was doing selfish music.

along the way you seemed to have a lot
of trouble with record companies...

oh, they are awful. i recommend anybody who
is gonna embark upon a musical career to get a damned good lawyer, that
doesn't bite, he, he, he.

when you had your first album out, 'safe
as milk', can you remember what kind of reactions you got?

yeah, hu, hu, hu... they were quite unusual.
i'm saying: 'singing you to me / thunder bubs coffee easily [i would
suggest: 'thunderbolts caught easily' - teejo] / shouts the truth peacefully
/ electricity'..., and i was shocked by the fact that they didn't think
that it was the right thing to say.

yes, you went to a&m [with demos
of that record], and they didn't like it...

they turned me right down.

it was too negative, right?

yes, can you believe that! i am saying: 'go
into bite [hide] / find the light / and know that friends don't
mind / just how you grow' - and they think that it's negative.... what
on earth is pósitive? they are cute.

do you like any of today's music, like
the dance music?

you mean that rap music, is that what they
call it? not at all. it's too basic. i think it's too redundant.

you have said something about the beat
of rock music being fascistic...

it is. i think - over and over and over,
pounding the same spot - that's dangerous. i tried to avoid that. now.
i'm happier painting although i think it is extremely difficult.

what is the most difficult part of it?

hmmm. let's see... hmmm... all of it...,
it's all hard.

as a painter, do you have any inspirations...
what are you trying to do as a painter?

i'm trying to turn myself inside out on the
canvas. i'm trying to completely bare what i think at that moment, yet
i put a lot of thought into what i'm doing... it sounds like a contradiction,
but ... --

well, er, to get back to the music: an
album like 'trout mask replica' is considered to be one of the most important
influences on some kinds of rock music. today, can you understand why it
was so important?

because the fact that it is breaking up the,
erm, mind, in many different directions, causing them not to able to fixate
- this is what i was trying to do.

is it true that you made most of that
music in eight or nine hours?

eight and a half.

that's true?

yeah. on a piano. boy, all the strings were
popped!

and it took the musicians almost a year
to get the music together...

it took six months, which is, i think, pretty
quick for the different kind of music - they had never heard any music
like that before.